Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to cold weather clothing and more particularly relates to a head garment having a removable face covering.
Related Art
In cold weather environments it is often desirable to wear a head garment in order to keep the head and body warm. One problem with conventional head garments is that when the user is active and generating body heat, head garments may cause the user to overheat. An additional problem with conventional head garments that cover the face of the user, is that such face coverings frustrate the ability of the user be heard and understood when the user is attempting to speak, or perform other activities such as eating, drinking, etc.
Solutions to these problems have been proposed and some conventional head garments therefore have detachable masks that can be removed in order to allow excess heat to escape and to allow the user to effectively communicate. Such conventional solutions suffer from the ability of the detachable mask portion becoming lost, thereby extremely reducing the effectiveness of the head garment in cold weather.
Additionally, such conventional solutions suffer from the difficulty of aligning and attaching each of the fasteners that join the mask to the head garment while the user is wearing other cold weather gear, such as gloves. This problem has been addressed by replacing the mechanical fasteners (e.g., snaps and buttons) with magnets. However, any of these types of fasteners create the additional problem of cold air and wind reaching the face of the user between the gaps in the fasteners, which also significantly reduces the effectiveness of the head garment in cold weather.
Therefore, what is needed is a head garment that overcomes these significant problems found in the conventional head garments as described above.